


Reunion

by SooperSara



Series: Zutara Week 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, One Shot, Podfic, Post-Canon, Reunion, Zutara Week, Zutara Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25202557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SooperSara/pseuds/SooperSara
Summary: Months after she vanished from Ba Sing Se, leaving only a note behind, Zuko finds Katara by accident in a poverty-stricken Fire Nation village.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zutara Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825771
Comments: 30
Kudos: 177
Collections: Zutara Week 2020





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> ####  [▶ Podfic](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XPpw3rrmbFII32MtBk1kfssZtUWYV_Tn/view?usp=sharing)

He thought he was imagining things. It wouldn't surprise him much. In his days—weeks— _longer_ —of traveling the poverty-stricken lowlands, his list of projects to help his people survive growing ever longer, he'd gotten little enough sleep that hallucinations didn't seem impossible.

But the Katara standing in front of him didn't seem like a hallucination. She was taller than he remembered, her jawline sharper and her cheeks more narrow. If she was a hallucination, she shouldn't be so different than the way he remembered her. His mind wouldn't summon an older version of the girl he remembered. Or it shouldn't.

The sunlight caught her hair, casting rich bronze rays off of her curls. Zuko remained frozen in the shadows of the alleyway. Illusion or not, he couldn't force himself to move. He couldn't bear the thought of losing sight of her. Not even if she was a hallucination. It had been too long, and he missed her clear down to his bones.

"Zuko?" That was her voice. He would never forget her voice. "I can't believe you're here."

His throat went tight.

"It's so good to see you." Her smile was soft and easy.

It had been too long since he'd seen her, since he'd heard from her. Too long since frantic letters from Sokka and Aang reached him with news that Katara was gone, that she had left Ba Sing Se, leaving nothing more than a note behind her. That she said her impact was too small in the confines of the city, and she needed to be alone to make her mark on the world.

He thought he understood. He _did_ understand. But months had passed, months of endless meetings and summits and journeys to the poorest reaches of the Fire Nation to plan his next steps in rebuilding his nation. Months of silence. With no word from Katara, worry had set in, so deep that it consumed every thought, every memory of her.

Zuko wasn't certain he remembered how to speak. "Katara."

"Hi." Her voice was quiet enough that a breeze could have carried it away like spider silk. She looked him over and if he didn't know better, he would think that her cheeks darkened a bit. "The traveling royalty look suits you."

His mouth was dry. Had her eyes always been that blue?

_You're here. You're safe. I've missed you so much._

He swallowed and felt his brow draw downward. "Why didn't you say anything when you left?"

There was a flash of pain in her eyes, and Katara looked away.

"Katara?" Her name came out harsher, more demanding than he'd intended, but he didn't correct himself. He didn't trust himself to speak more than he had to. There was an ache in his chest that was working its way up to his throat, and if he allowed his scowl to fade for even an instant, he was almost certain that he would shatter.

"I—" Katara faltered, and her eyes darted up to meet his. "Zuko, I'm—can you wait here for a minute?"

She gave him no chance to respond. Almost before she finished speaking, she whirled around and disappeared down the street.

Zuko's heart sank. He should follow her. He should apologize. He should have never scowled at her or allowed his tone to harden, but he couldn't help himself. And now she was gone. Again.

He folded his arms tight across his chest, trying to keep himself in one piece. What was wrong with him? He turned his face up toward the sky. She was safe. She had been happy to see him, and he should have been happy about that.

Stupid, _so_ stupid. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't move. The ache still lingered in his chest, but it had reached upward too, clamping on his throat so that it hurt to swallow. He'd messed up. Just like he'd messed up everything else. He'd never been anything less than honest with Katara before, and now he could do nothing but scowl. It was no wonder she had run.

 _She isn't coming back,_ something in the back of his mind whispered. _Why would she? You're the last person she wants to see. She had a reason for leaving in the first place, and now you've reminded her._

But he remained rooted in place, staring down the street toward the corner where she'd disappeared. Silently, over and over, he begged her to return, begged any spirits who happened to be listening to guide her back. Even lightning didn't hurt quite like this, like knowing that she was finally close, and she wanted nothing to do with him. He missed her. Zuko had missed Katara with all his heart since the day she left the palace, but it had never ached like this before, like he was coming apart at the seams with the strain of being so close but unable to tell her— _everything._ How he felt. How much he'd missed her. How worried he had been. How hard it was to sleep when he didn't know whether she was safe.

"Zuko?" Her voice, smaller than before, came from the side, and he turned her way.

His face was stone and it hurt to breathe. She hovered several paces back, clutching a worn coil of paper, her eyes uncertain.

 _Say something,_ he urged himself. His mouth dropped open, but it was devoid of moisture, and he couldn't speak. Against his will, his scowl deepened.

Katara took a step forward. "I'm sorry, Zuko. I know I shouldn't have run away without telling anyone." She was only a few strides away now, and the words spilled out of her in an uncontrollable torrent. "I couldn't stay there. There was _nothing_ there for me. Nothing useful for me to do. And if I'd told Aang, he would have followed me, and—I couldn't. I left a letter for him. I thought about leaving one for Toph until I remembered she wouldn't be able to read it. And a few days after I left, I sent a letter to Sokka and my dad—I still don't know if they've gotten it, but I tried to let them know I was safe." She fumbled with the coil of paper and shoved it into his hands. "Then I wrote this. For you. Well, not _this—_ I wrote at least a dozen others, but they were all wrong."

His throat tightened. There were tears in Katara's eyes, and yet she kept speaking. Fingers shaking, Zuko unfurled the letter.

"You always understood." Zuko's eyes were drawn downward as she went on. "I knew you would understand if I could just explain why I left, but I couldn't find the right way to say it. Talking to you always made so much sense but writing—it's different. It's so much harder."

His eyes trailed over the letter, over the list of greetings tried and discarded: _Dear Zuko_ with a decisive slash through the characters, _Fire Lord Zuko_ buried under a mound of scribbles, _My Friend_ cut into harsh portions by a series of zigzags, then finally, a simple _Zuko_ written in a less steady hand than any of its predecessors.

"I mean, you're putting an entire nation back together. How could I possibly tell you that I couldn't take being in Ba Sing Se when you were busy fixing a hundred years of mistakes? When you're handling everything _so well?"_

 _You're wrong,_ he wanted to tell her, thinking back to all the letters he'd sent her, all the truths he'd left out. About how lonely the capitol was, about how deeply the nobility loathed him and the changes he'd made. About how his father's influence never seemed to stop seeping in beneath the palace gates, about how he longed for the times when they had all been together, fugitives or otherwise. When he could still sleep through the night, and he could count on seeing a friendly face every day.

He felt his face harden again as his gaze traced over the remainder of the letter, all the false starts and scribbles and smudges and tearstains.

 _Stop,_ he told himself. _Talk to her. Say something. Anything. Just don't let her disappear again._

"I wanted to tell you," she continued, a tearful waver tugging at the ends of her words, "that I wasn't running away. I wanted you to believe that I was looking for a place that needed my help more than Ba Sing Se, but I couldn't. I couldn't _stand_ being in Ba Sing Se, and I couldn't lie to you."

With a tremendous effort, he dragged his gaze up to meet hers again. _Do something._ Her tears were flowing freely now, and yet he couldn't seem to break through his own scowl. He couldn't speak, couldn't swallow, could hardly _breathe_ through the ache.

"I am so sorry," she repeated, taking a step back. "I wanted to tell you everything. I _should_ have. And if you're angry with me—if you never want to speak to me again—"

That, at last, was too much. Zuko did the only thing he could think to do—he closed the space between them in two quick strides and pulled her tight against his chest as his scowl collapsed and the ache in his throat burst, unleashing the waiting flood of tears.

Katara pressed her forehead to his sternum, returning his embrace with uncertain arms. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

His arms tightened around her. The confirmation that she was _here,_ that she was real, and present, and _safe_ broke any sensation that might have come close to anger. He bowed his head down nearer to hers. Now that she was here, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to let go.

"I was so afraid that something had happened to you," Zuko whispered, voice half-choked.

Katara's grasp around him tightened. "I've really missed you, Zuko."

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time, this was a little thing that I had written for a future chapter of another fic. But then I realized that the other fic is going to change a lot as I write it, so it doesn't really pay to plan _that_ far ahead, so here it is! There are a couple of people who may have read a much earlier, crappier version of this at some point, but _shhhhh._ I like it much better now. 
> 
> I'm going to be posting a new fic every day this week, so if you want to keep up, you can subscribe to [the series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825771) or follow me on [Tumblr](https://soopersara.tumblr.com/)! Comments and kudos are always very much appreciated ❤💙


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